100 MORE ACRES

By Connor Dennis, Land and Water Protection Specialist

The WLAC Land Protection Committee had a busy end to 2022, completing two land acquisition projects that protect an additional 100 acres in the Walloon Lake watershed. The committee’s word of the year was “critical,” and each of these properties are adjacent to existing preserves/nature areas and considered high priority. The new additions expand wildlife corridors and increase our protection of sensitive wetland habitats. Below you will learn a bit more about each.

Mill Pond Nature Area Addition

Since 1996, the WLAC has held a conservation easement on 59 acres off the West Arm owned by the Maus Family. The property consists of over 30 acres of rolling meadows that are hayed by a local farmer each summer and just under 25 acres of pine and maple forests teeming with wildlife. These critters use Walloon as their drinking water source and its woods for shelter. This past summer, the family decided that they wanted to sell the property outright to the Conservancy. The fee title ownership prevents the purchase from any outside buyers of this critical property. The parcel is adjacent to our recently acquired Mill Pond Nature Area which includes 2,139 feet of amongst the last undeveloped shoreline on Walloon Lake. The two properties will combine to form a total 98-acre nature sanctuary, representing decades of work and partnership with the family to protect the untouched shores of Mill Pond, the northernmost tip of the lake.

Protecting water quality buffers like this are of the utmost importance. Mill Pond is the headwaters of Walloon Lake and provides filtration for water making its way down the West Arm all the way into the Bear River. The ecological benefit can truly be felt throughout the entire lake.

Frog Hollow Addition

Meanwhile, in the South Arm, we have another critical area, the Fineout Creek subwatershed. Last winter, we received a call from Kelly Sheets Dickson, whose family owned a 40-acre parcel adjacent to our Frog Hollow Preserve on M-75, just outside of Walloon Village. She wanted to know if we were interested in purchasing the property from the family estate and shared her desire for the property to be protected into the future. With her knowledge of the Conservancy’s good work, Kelly thought we would be the perfect organization to help her achieve her family’s legacy goals.

Triple Your Impact

Our natural lands give us clean water, fresh air, healthy wildlife habitats, access to locally grown foods, and places to escape to. This is why last year, we launched our Critical Lands Campaign, an ongoing effort to conserve critically important properties in the Walloon Lake watershed, like the ones you just read about. With a focus on land conservation as a crucial means to protect our water quality, each property project within the campaign is directly related and impactful to our region’s freshwater. In support of this ambitious endeavor, we here at the WLAC are incredibly honored to announce that the campaign was awarded a $900,000 matching gift grant from the Carl’s Foundation. But the good news doesn’t stop there. These funds were further matched by an anonymous Walloon family, totaling $1,650,000. So by giving to our Critical Lands Campaign, you are tripling your impact on the water of Walloon.

The property is a white-tailed deer’s dream, with thick cedar swamps, lush marsh grasses and a section of Fineout Creek running through it. We are delighted to be able to protect this sensitive wetland in perpetuity, and with its adjacency to two other preserves, it extends the Cedar Valley Preserve wildlife corridor. With the help of Kelly and her family, we were able to acquire the property for below appraised value and would like to thank them for their patience, generosity, and commitment to the protection and preservation of the Walloon Lake watershed.

If you are interested in helping protect Walloon Lake and its watershed by donating your land or learning more about our Conservation Easement Program, please contact me at connor@walloon.org or just give the office a call.